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A poll taken by ImpreMedia/Latino Decisions on the eve of yesterday’s presidential election reveals that Mitt Romney may have lost the Latino vote by an even greater margin than first revealed by exit polling—enough votes to allow experts to credibly suggest that, for the first time in our history, the Latino vote may well have decided the outcome of the presidential election.

According to the poll, Obama carried the Latino vote by a 75-23 margin—more than the roughly 70-30 split indicated by the exit polls—with voter turnout in the demographic totaling a full 10 percent of the total vote.

According to Stanford University’s Gary Segura, the professor who conducted the poll, the Latino vote delivered 5.4 percent of President Obama’s vote total, considerably more than Obama’s final lead over his challenger in the popular vote.

Segura noted that had Romney managed even 35 percent of the Latino vote, the result of the election may have been very different.

Senator John McCain managed to grab 31 percent of the demographic in his failed 2008 race, while President Bush exceeded the number by tallying 40 percent of the Latino vote in his successful run in 2004.

With this in mind, one cannot help but wonder if things might have been different had Mitt Romney resisted the temptation to pander to the right during primary season and avoided suggesting that the answer to the nation’s immigration difficulties was for illegals to ‘self deport’.

Either way, the problem for the GOP going forward could not be clearer.

The Latino community has thrown in with the Democrats and, absent a willingness on the part of Republicans to get serious about speaking to the needs and interests of the Latino community—including participating in the creation of a reasonable road to citizenship for those who are presently in the country illegally—there is no reason to expect that the Latino allegiance will be changing anytime soon.

Certainly, if Republicans did not understand this before, they certainly have received the message loud and clear on Election Day.

The question that remains is whether or not the GOP can extend the hand of friendship to the Latino community without having its arm chopped off by the Republican base. I'm guessing not—and that could spell the end of the Republican Party's chances to elect a president for a very long time to come.

contact Rick at the policy page@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @rickungar